


Something New, Something Strange

by EternallyEC



Category: Victorious (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Pining, childhood AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:01:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24486289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EternallyEC/pseuds/EternallyEC
Summary: Jade asks Tori for a favor she's really not sure she can go through with.Childhood AU
Relationships: Tori Vega/Jade West
Comments: 7
Kudos: 129





	Something New, Something Strange

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Pride Month! It seems fitting that I've finally recovered from my burnout on this day, just in time to write these two nerds being adorable.
> 
> Also, this is early, but this is dedicated to a good friend of mine, Ari, whose birthday is coming up! Happy birthday, friend, I hope that you enjoy it! 
> 
> Please enjoy and let me know what you think!

Tori was pretty sure that agreeing to teach her best friend  _ and  _ current crush how to kiss would be pretty high up on the list of her stupidest ideas ever. 

But Jade is Jade and when she’d shown up to her door completely freaking out over her upcoming date with Beck Oliver and begging her for help, Tori hadn’t been thinking. She never was when it came to Jade, it seemed; she didn’t think she ever had been. 

“So will you do it?” Jade was asking, nervously staring at Tori, who felt something twist inside her as her gaze couldn’t help but drop to her lips before she realized what she was doing and jerked her gaze back up. 

“Jade, do you really think that’s a good idea?” she asked, trying to mask her anxiety as best as she could. 

“If you don’t think you can bring yourself to kiss me, Tori, just say so,” Jade said, and Tori wondered if anyone else would have heard the hurt so carefully concealed in that bored tone of hers or seen the flash of pain in her eyes. 

She sighed, shaking her head. “It’s not like that, shut up,” she grumbled, poking her in the side. “You don’t think it might make things weird?”

Jade smirked and raised an eyebrow. “Why would it? Friends help each other out all the time with this stuff, Tor.”

In the end, she would decide it was the use of the nickname that swayed her better judgment. She was also certain that Jade had used it specifically for that reason, knowing what it meant to her. But at that moment, she wasn’t thinking about any of that. 

No, in that moment she was instantly transported back to seven years ago when a petulant brunette had been seated beside her in their first-grade class. Who could have guessed that an alphabetical seating chart could change their lives in such a way?

_ “Tori, this is Jade West. She’s new here and I want you to be her buddy, okay?” the teacher had instructed with a warm smile.  _

_ “Yes ma’am, Mrs. Davis,” Tori answered with a warm smile, paying no mind to how Jade’s frown had only intensified. “Hi, Jade! I’m Tori.”  _

_ “I don’t care,” Jade grumbled, laying her head on the desk.  _

_ And so it had gone for the next week. Tori would do everything in her power to get Jade’s attention, from giving the brunette her pudding cup every day at lunch to jumping at the chance to sharpen Jade’s pencil when it would break. Slowly, she’d watched the other girl begin to thaw, sometimes even agreeing to watch her on the monkey bars and laughing at her antics.  _

_ It was on one of those days when everything changed between them. Though they were growing friendlier, they weren’t quite friends yet and Tori had been disappointed when Jade turned down her offer to play together in favor of settling underneath a shady tree with a book.  _

_ But she’d gone to play anyway, amusing herself on the monkey bars as she always did, hanging upside down, crawling along the top of them, swinging her way across by grabbing every other bar, all of the usual tricks.  _

_ She hadn’t even seen the boys until she’d flipped upside down, letting her knees grasp the bars for her and her arms dangle freely inches from the ground. When she opened her eyes, they were surrounding her with mischief in their eyes and she gulped nervously.  _

_ “You’re such a show-off,” the one directly in front of her smirked, his two friends grabbing her arms when she tried to pull herself up and holding her in place.  _

_ “I’m just playing,” Tori protested nervously, trying to wriggle out of the boys’ grasp with no luck.  _

_ “Yeah? Well--”  _

_ “Let her go,” came a menacing growl, and Tori’s eyes immediately followed the sound of the familiar voice, widening at the sight of Jade.  _

_ Little brunette Jade who looked angrier than Tori had ever seen her, tiny hands planted on her hips as she tossed her hair back and narrowed her eyes. “I said, let her go.”  _

_ “Why should we?” the apparent leader, the one who’d been taunting Tori asked, turning around to face her.  _

_ “Because if you don’t, I’ll introduce you to my other friend and you really don’t want that,” Jade smirked, pulling a pair of scissors out of her jacket pocket. And not just any scissors either, Tori noted with wide eyes, these were real, adult scissors!  _

_ Tori’s eyes moved between the ringleader and Jade as they silently faced off for what felt like an eternity but really couldn’t have been more than a few seconds. Then everything seemed to happen all at once: Jade opened and closed the scissors a few times, cutting air with a whistling sound in their direction and the boys scattered without another word. Tori quickly pulled herself up before climbing down, approaching Jade with a relieved smile.  _

_ “You okay, Tor?” Jade asked gruffly, pocketing the scissors again with a satisfied smirk. But there was something new in her eyes, a softness that Tori hadn’t seen before and, despite her fear and anxiety from seconds ago, she couldn’t help but smile.  _

“Earth to Tori, hello?” 

Tori snapped back to the present at the sound of Jade’s voice, blushing slightly when she saw the brunette studying her. “Sorry, I spaced out for a second.” 

“Obviously,” she said, her tone amused but her eyes suspicious. “So what do you say? Will you help me?”

Taking a deep breath, Tori nodded before she could second-guess herself. Jade had always been there to help her out of binds her whole life, how could she deny her this one favor? It’d be selfish, really, she reasoned as she watched Jade relax beside her. 

Besides, it’d probably be the only chance she’d ever get to see if kissing Jade West was everything she’d imagined it to be. Her heart leaped at the thought and she automatically shifted a little closer. 

“So, how should we do this?” she asked with a shy smile. 

“You’re the one who’s kissed someone before,” Jade pointed out with a smirk. 

Tori rolled her eyes. “It was one time,” she replied automatically, though she couldn’t help but grin at the memory. It had been awkward, neither of the then-12-year-olds knowing what the heck they were doing, but it was a good memory. 

Something in Tori’s gut twisted when she realized that she’d be giving Jade that kind of memory, the kind that lasted and lasted even two years later. Because even if Jade didn’t really count it, Tori would be her first kiss. 

Her face hurt from the smile that stretched it at the thought. 

“Quit being a dork and get over here,” Jade groaned, tugging on Tori’s arm until she shifted closer, their arms brushing against each other until she angled her body to better face the brunette. 

Jade’s eyes were even prettier this close up and Tori knew she could easily get lost in them if she wasn’t careful. So she carefully stared just above them at Jade’s forehead as she smiled and cupped her cheek. 

“Here goes nothing,” she giggled, trying her best to pretend like she wasn’t dying inside as she tilted her lip and softly brushed her lips over Jade’s. 

Gathering her courage, she wrapped her arms around Jade as she continued kissing her, waiting until Jade had started to return the kiss before she pressed her lips more firmly to hers. They kissed like they’d been doing it for years; the awkwardness that had pervaded Tori’s first kiss was nowhere to be found.

Kissing Jade felt like the most natural thing in the world and it wasn’t until Jade slowly pulled back that Tori was brought back to reality, the look of surprise on the brunette’s face the first reminder that it wasn’t natural between them at all.

Breathing heavily, Tori wanted to look anywhere but at Jade, but her traitorous eyes wouldn’t move from her face. Jade’s pale cheeks were tinted with red and she was breathing harder than usual too. She chuckled as she combed her fingers through her hair and Tori blushed as she pulled her arms back.

“You okay, Tor?” Jade finally broke the silence. “I think you knew more than you were telling me.” 

Tori forced a smile she wasn’t sure worked as she nodded. “Yeah, I just need a minute.” 

The silence between them stretched out for several seconds before Jade pulled her Pearphone out. 

“Who are you texting?” Tori asked, striving for normalcy as much as she could.

“Beck,” Jade answered, and Tori would swear she felt her heart crack.

“Oh,” she said softly, feeling stupid for thinking that Jade could have felt the chemistry between them as plainly as she had. It was just a kiss, she reminded herself, it didn’t mean anything and it wasn’t supposed to. 

So why did she feel like she’d just lost everything? 

“I’m canceling our date to take you out instead.” 

“That’s nice,” Tori mumbled, trying to ignore how much it hurt just to be alive right now. Jade had never even been hers-- _ what the chiz had Jade just said?!  _

“Wait, what did you say?” she asked dumbly, her head snapping up to meet Jade’s amused, knowing gaze. 

“That was me asking you out on a date, Tori. Don’t expect me to ask again,” Jade smirked, putting her phone away and reaching out to deliberately cup her cheek, running her thumb over her cheekbones. 

Tori’s heart was racing as she leaned into the touch, not even caring how much her face hurt as she beamed at Jade. “I’d love to,” she answered immediately, not giving her a chance to change her mind.

And just like that, their relationship changed, evolved into something even better than either of them had ever dared to hope for. 

**Author's Note:**

> The title of this fic are song lyrics from "Ready Now" by Dodie. If you haven't listened to Dodie, I have to strongly recommend you give her a listen, especially as she is a bisexual icon and has a fair few LGBT+-centered songs on her Youtube channel. 
> 
> And so okay, listen. This was supposed to be prompt-based and I went to type it up so I could put it here, and... I totally misread the prompt. Like, it's completely opposite of what you just read. So maybe I'll write that version one day, so for now, just know that this was written in the spirit of a prompt. LOL


End file.
